Retailers like Best Buy may opt for a "fire sale" on the TouchPad. (Source: Unwired View)

HP is also looking to dump its profitable consumer PC unit, which is the top U.S. and global seller. HP wants to use the money to buy Autonomy, an even more lucrative enterprise software maker. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Company is also contemplating how to dispose of PC unit

The era of webOS is over at
Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ). While some would
argue that the decision to kill the struggling lineup of tablet and smartphone
devices was premature, HP has made its decision and it's standing behind it.

I. A TouchPad Fire Sale?

But that doesn't change the fact that it has a very big problem on its hands --
$100M USD worth of unsold
HP TouchPad tablets. At $400, that works out to 250,000 unsold units,
but some speculate that HP may be taking a smaller per-unit write-off, which
could indicate an unsold total as high as 300,000 units.

So what to do with the stock of TouchPads? Sell them for pennies on the
dollar? Burn them? Bury them in concrete in the desert?

HP says it will be up to its sales partners, which include Best Buy Comp.,
Inc. (BBY) and Staples, Inc. (SPLS). It will give them
a case payout for the devices, which they can either return to HP or using the
cash, sell the stock at fire sale prices.

It's unclear whether any of the big box retails are going to bite on the latter
route. But if they do, the former Palm unit may just have one last gift
in store for its fans -- a deeply discounted TouchPad. Such an offer may
even convince some skeptics to partake. Much like that girl at the bar
starts looking better after a couple drinks, the rough
edges of the TouchPad may become lovable quirks, if it's offered for,
say, $150 USD.

HP and its carrier partners have not yet announced whether they will be
conducting a similar program for unsold Pre3 smartphones, which
were reportedly in advanced production, but sadly died soon before what would
have been its U.S. launch. Likewise, it must decide what to do with
whatever Pre Plus, Pixi Plus, Pre 2, and HP Veer handset stock is sticking
around at carriers.

The one word of warning when it comes to buying these devices is to consider
that while they'll likely come at great prices, should they be sold, the
operating system is unlikely to see significant future work, and likewise the
app catalog is unlikely to see many new titles, now that HP has abandoned the
platform.

II. HP May Have to Chop up PC Unit to Make it Sellable

In related news, HP's bid to offload its consumer PC unit (which
reportedly has to sell seven computers to make as much profit as a single
Apple, Inc. (AAPL) machine) is encountering
resistance because of the unit's high value.

HP is the world's
top seller of personal computers, and the top seller in the U.S., so
the company is literally putting the number one position in the market up for
bid -- an unusual sight. Again, the reason why gets back to its dropping
profitability -- HP wants to focus on more lucrative business solutions, following in
the path of rival International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

The unit is valued, according to Reuters, at around $10-12B USD.
It makes $38B USD in annual revenue, but only has a 5.7 percent profit
margin (around $2.17B USD in annual profit).

Hong Kong-based Lenovo Group, Ltd. (HKG: 0992) has $3.8B
USD in cash and a market cap of $45.76B USD, so it could complete a purchase
with a mix of approximately 30-40 percent cash and 60-70 percent stock.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics (SEO 005930)
also reportedly has a lot of cash on hand and is interested in getting deeper
into the world of computers. The deal could see problems, though, with
U.S. antitrust regulators, as Samsung is already in the top
two spots in global phone sales.

I have a nice Brother laser printer. I still have a few qualms about it, but it prints fast and accurately in black and white. I am currently without a color printer - as I have had little luck with inkjets in the past. My HP used to claim to print large photos, but the photo paper would turn while printing, ruining the photo. If only they would use an entire rubber roller instead of just wheels to move the paper.

That said, Canon's ink for some models is cheaper than other brands because the print head is not part of the cartridge. I had a Canon i550 that lasted me about 8 years, and I could get a package of all four cartridges for $35. Now I have a Canon MG5220, and the pack of four is $45.